2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In

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CNET Editors' Rating

The GoodThe 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in delivers the same stellar fuel economy as the standard model, but with the capability to further boost efficiency by being plugged in. The smartphone-connected Entune system brings live destination search, traffic data, and Pandora streaming to the dashboard. Voice command tech and intuitive steering-wheel controls help to keep eyes on the road.

The BadThe infotainment system locks the user out of most navigation and calling functions while the vehicle is in motion. The car's touch screen is prone to bad glare with a minimal amount of sunlight, and too many warning screens pop up when you try to use Entune.

The Bottom LineThe 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in vastly improves the flexibility and potential economy of the standard Prius formula with the simple addition of a power cable and larger, more efficient battery pack.

8.7 Overall

Cabin tech8.0

Performance tech10.0

Design8.0

Review Sections

We've already seen the 2012 Toyota Prius. In fact, we've seen it twice. The Prius liftback that silently glided into the Car Tech Garage this week doesn't differ very much from the 2012 Prius model that we reviewed just a few weeks ago, which itself hadn't changed dramatically since the 2010 model that we reviewed a few years ago.

However, the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in is no ordinary Prius. Before slapping on the "Plug-in" badge, Toyota bumped up the size of the Prius' battery pack for increased range under pure electric power, added the capability to recharge that bigger battery by plugging the hybrid into any 120-volt outlet, and reprogrammed the EV driving mode to take advantage of the new electric-only range.

But in a world where the Chevrolet Volt gets 40 miles of emissions-free driving per charge, how much of a difference can the Plug-in Prius' measly 13 miles of electric range really make at the pump? As it turns out, quite a bit.

Plug it in, plug it in
The whole reason that you pay the extra dough for the Prius Plug-in is, well, to plug it in occasionally to gain a few extra miles of electric driving. The 2012 Plug-in's battery pack is larger than that of the standard Prius, but it's also more advanced. The new battery is a 4.4kWh lithium ion array, while the standard model has a 1.3kWh nickel metal hydride battery pack. You can fully charge that battery pack with a 3-hour charge from any 120-volt outlet. If you can find a public, standard 240-volt SAE J1772 charging station or have one installed in your home, that charge time drops to 1.5 hours.

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The J1772 plug is located on the passenger side of the vehicle.
Josh Miller/CNET

Toyota's press materials claim that you can squeeze 15 miles of electric driving out of a full charge, the Plug-in's own trip computer estimated 12.8 miles, and the EPA reckons you'll only get 11. Your EV range should fall somewhere between those numbers. The Plug-in defaults to a full-electric operating mode when its battery is fully or partially charged. Even in EV mode, you may notice the gasoline engine fire up every once and again to, for example, warm the heater core. However, once the EV range drops below 1 mile, the gasoline engine will kick in in earnest and the vehicle will begin to behave like a regular Prius liftback.

All in all, the Prius only outputs a maximum 134 hp from its Hybrid Synergy Drive power train. When under EV mode, the 80 hp (60kW) electric motor handles motivation duty. When needed, another 98 ponies are provided by the 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine. (And before you point out that those numbers don't add up, we know and so does Toyota. Gasoline and electric motors output power at different rates, and combining their power isn't as simple as adding A to B.) That's not a huge amount of total power going through the Plug-in's eCVT and to the front wheels, so it's no surprise that the Prius doesn't snap the neck, even in its Power Mode. However with some combination of 105 pound-feet of torque from the gasoline engine and 153 pound-feet from the electric motor (Toyota doesn't seem to publish a combined torque number), the Prius isn't particularly slow off of the line either.

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Every Prius Plug-in comes with a charging cable with a standard 120-volt plug.
Josh Miller/CNET

If you can tear your eyes away from the plethora of displays and meters reporting back your instantaneous fuel economy and crank up the JBL Green Edge stereo to overcome the obnoxious noise made by the gasoline engine when it inevitably pops on -- it sounds more like a large vacuum cleaner than an internal combustion engine -- then the Prius is not a bad ride. It goes, stops, and corners in a perfectly acceptable manner. Even with only 80 hp available in EV mode, the Plug-in doesn't feel obnoxiously slow off the line on level ground. Sure, there's a bit of lag between a pedal press and the continuously variable transmission allowing the gasoline engine to wind up and supply power, but the electric motor is always there to fill that critical moment between needing power and getting it, so I'm not complaining.

The last Prius we tested rounded out our testing cycle at about 47 mpg. The Prius Plug-in's trip computer read 60 mpg when I turned the keys over to my fellow Car Tech editors at the end of the week. Nightly recharging likely helped with that fuel economy bump, but I'm sure that with more careful trip planning and use of public charging stations, one could get even more mileage out of every gallon of burned gas. The EPA reckons that you can get up to 95 miles per gallon equivalent (mpge) for the first 11 miles of electric range, after which the gasoline engine causes the economy to drop to 50 mpg combined.

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Under the hood, the Plug-in is identical to the regular Prius.
Josh Miller/CNET

Cabin tech and options
The Prius Plug-in is sold in two trim levels: a $32,000 base model and a $39,525 Prius Plug-in Advanced.

Antuan Goodwin gained most of his automotive knowledge the old fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. From drivetrain tech and performance to car audio installs and cabin tech, if it's on wheels, Antuan is knowledgeable. Email Antuan, follow him on Twitter, or like him on Facebook.
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